PATROON CONFERENCE GIRLS' BASKETBALL ALL STARS
Greg Dedrick
ccSCOOP Sports
04-01-10 - 12:45 p.m. - The Patroon Conference coaches recently announced their selections for Most Valuable Player, first and second team all conference picks. Here are the selections and also our thoughts on the selections.
* Denotes a Columbia County player
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Katie Roth, Junior, Maple Hill
1st TEAM
Becca Smith, Senior, Ichabod Crane *
Shavonda Cousin, Senior, Hudson *
Sam Davis, Senior, Hudson *
Katie Miller, Senior, Catskill
Jessica Dailey, Senior, Maple Hill
2nd TEAM
Danielle Kitsock, Senior, Hudson *
Rachel Preusser, Senior, Taconic Hills *
Makenzie Edberg, Senior, Rensselaer
Sarah Mokszycki, Senior, Catskill
Taylor Anne Young, Junior, Greenville
THOUGHTS
Roth as the MVP made total sense since she was absolutely dominant this year in the middle for the league champion Wildcats. The fact that she is only a junior is even scarier.
The first three members of the first team we completely agree with. Smith was the leader of the second best team, a hard-nosed forward who scored and rebounded despite her shorter stature in the post. Davis and Cousin led the third-place finisher Hudson and used their length and skill to be dangerous threats. Cousin did her work down low, scoring in the paint and rebounding, while Davis had an ability to drive, defend very well, rebound, and even hit the outside shot. Miller and Dailey certainly deserved to be on the All Stars list, I just don’t think there is a ton of separation between those two and the five players listed on the second team. I guess two players had to make it, and Dailey being the second leading scorer and rebounder on an undefeated squad and Miller who led a good Catskill team make sense.
The whole second team makes a lot of sense. Kitsock was a dangerous long range shooter for the Bluehawks, and Moksycki was a good scoring and defending option for the Cats. Preusser, Edberg, and Young were big-time scoring options for their respective teams. The only real big gripe might be for Marissa Mendetta, who was Rensselaer’s scoring leader, although teammate Edberg made second team.
A lot of good players and not a ton of separation between players this year, but I do believe there were some other players who deserved mentioning. From Maple Hill, Kristen DerGurhian had a strong year both scoring and defending for the league champs, and Anna Racz should also get recognition. I was a little surprised that only one Rider made the two teams. Alyssa Stall with her shooting, Shana Barry with her shooting and versatility defending, or Haley Ooms with her point guard play and defense all could have been listed on the second team, and no one would have thought twice about it. Both Emma Gryner and Alexis McComb had their stretches for the Titans during the season as well. All in all the selections all make sense. There were just a lot of players with similar numbers whose teams finished with close records that could have been selected as well.
